I live in St. Louis. Been here 40+ years, moved here for a job after college. Grew up in the Chicago suburbs.
Can't disagree with a single word you wrote. You told it like it is. I will say, however, or perhaps emphasize further, that the de facto downtown IS Clayton, and has been for decades. It is not a new thing.
Every new sports stadium that gets built is sold partially on the notion that it will "revitalize downtown". Which at least contains the admission that downtown is lacking, that it needs revitalization. But doesn't contain the admission that, no, a sports stadium is not going to revitalize downtown.
I absolutely grieve all the beautiful buildings downtown and in the immediate surrounding areas that are abandoned and crumbling. It is so so so dang sad. The city used to be so alive and vibrant, but before I got here.
Thanks! Yeah Clayton has been the de facto downtown for a long time, but when I was growing up in the 90s it still had a lot of charming little shops and cool midcentury modern architecture that still sort of suggested that the real downtown was elsewhere. Today, with all the McMansions and glass towers, the last of the small town charm has been eliminated and it's pretty purely corporate. I'm with you about all the crumbling underappreciated architecture of historic St. Louis, perhaps especially all the boarded up blocks of grand old Edwardian mansions, it's tragic that the metro seems at war with its own history. I do think that if StL can manage to create a zone of security around the sports venues, convention center, tourist districts and the arch, that would stabilize revenue and help gradually expand that security zone outward to cover more of the city. You might be interested in this piece I wrote about the Clayton school board fracas earlier this year: https://ivyexile.substack.com/p/crooked-timber
Good for St. Louis. This thesis argues that in the Civil War era, St. Louis started falling behind Chicago due to the latter's ability to attract more Northern capital during the era of sectional conflict: https://www.nwmissouri.edu/library/theses/2015/AnstineTroy.pdf
Thanks, I'll look forward to reading! My sense is that it was the confluence of a lot of factors. St. Louis was perfectly situated for westward expansion in the era of riverboats and covered wagons, but once railroads and highways came along it was at a disadvantage to Chicago. I've heard it argued that Chicago ultimately benefited from its great fire allowing it to rethink its structure. Plus St. Louis City made the short-sighted decision to separate from the county in the 19th century, which has ultimately made the region less nimble in decision making. There are still people hoping to merge the city and county to be "Better Together" but the city is so dysfunctional there's no political appetite to make that happen. The number one factor was globalization, I'd say, as the focus of northern and later west coast capital moved from the U.S. interior to abroad.
as a Kansas Citian, I was often jealous of St Louis' seemingly cultural relativity to the East Coast. I liked it while attending Wash U. (in my case Wash-out U). Now, both cities face enormous cultural challenges!
I've got a number of friends who've moved to Kansas City and really love it. I've only been a few times, but it really is striking how much more KC is a true western city while StL is an eastern city located as west as one can get. The gateway indeed!
Ha, my Dad actually worked at Pruitt-Igoe in its apocalyptic final years. He was a social worker from a very hardscrabble background, so the residents tended not to give him much trouble even as a white guy because they could tell he really understood what it was to be poor. So he always had mixed feelings about the dramatic demolition sequence in Koyaanisqatsi of the complex being destroyed.
Ted Gioia had a wonderful piece the other day about Philip Glass' blue-collar background. I never knew that he was a steelworker, taxi driver, self-taught plumber etc. for many years even as he was an up and coming composer. So definitely haute couture, but earthy!
I have lived in St. Louis all my life. I missed the days when I as a 5 year old could walk to school several blocks away, and alone. There were murders in St. Louis, but not at a daily rate. The most outstanding crimes that I recall was a vehicle accident a few blocks from Sportsman Park/Busch Stadium 1. Three nuns were killed. Our home was one block away and I recall neighbors running to the scene. I couldn't go. It was too horrific. Then years later there was a young black girl who had her eyes cut out because she would be able to identify robbers. I just wish we had crimes now that weren't daily and so violent. I am not saying that the crimes I witnessed were the only ones. My point is that you had to pay more attention or it had to be in your neighborhood to find them. Today, you just open up the computer, turn on your television, car radio, any local media and you will find a story about someone being murdered or robbed. My answer is to get rid of the guns. Why do we need guns? We don't have the need to kill for food. Why not come up with a way that gun lovers can go to a place and rent a gun to use only in that place. Perhaps they can have a shooting range. If there were enough gun-lovers that could just understand this. I know this is a dream.
I was really suppose to comment on the Cori Bush and Wesley Bell story. Just like the writer I did not vote for her. I knew she was the wrong candidate and I did not have to know much about her. I honestly tried to give her a chance, but she was just too loud and too selfish. I actually believe that she ran for office because she thought very highly of herself, but when she got into office she did not know how to do her job. So, what I believe she did was to just use her voice to put on the act of working for the people. Sure, she showed up at events claiming to do the work for certain groups. Did she do any work? I don't know. She backed groups, but I do that. I donate a little money, show up at gatherings, and volunteer. Anyone can do that. I just did not see evidence that she was the right person to lead us. Supporting residents in Congress with action, not yelling or just standing there. I believe Wesley Bell is the complete opposite of Bush. He works for a cause. He has proven time and time again that he does his job. A job. He has a history of working in his community and others before he became an attorney and on to AG for St. Louis County. When she lost in this violent election she proved herself. The language and the threatening tones were unnecessary. I believe that if I were a supporter before this happened, I would have dumped her. But, as I said earlier I did not see anything that would make me want to vote for her ever. Oh, I am black and I am a woman.
Thank you for your comment, Audry. I agree that Bush's ranting in her "concession speech" was really the ultimate icing on the cake of all the reasons why she had to go. Hopefully with Bell taking her place StL can move on from this tragic past decade and start coming together to get a handle on the crime problem.
I was there for work for a couple days this summer and was appalled at how apocalyptic the downtown seemed, four years on from COVID. And I'm from Baltimore, it's hard to shock me with municipal dysfunction...
One of my Uber drivers said, "yeah apparently we've been the slowest big city to bounce back from the pandemic." Here's hoping Wesley Bell lives us to your assessment of him in this higher role!
Due in part to the city-county split I mention in the post, the city has become more and more of a basketcase driving a vicious cycle of moderate middle-class voters fleeing to the county which in turn makes the city even more of a basketcase. So downtown has many of the sporting and performance venues and the Arch and some cool tourist destinations, but the metropolitan area's true commercial downtown is the affluent county seat, Clayton, where I grew up. Some state workers are getting pulled out of working downtown so the problem is probably going to get worse before it gets better. What I hope Bell is able to do is point the way towards prioritizing making the tourist areas safe, clean and secure so that the city is able to start attracting more conventions again for much cheaper than cities like Chicago and start generating more revenue to take on the rest of its pressing problems. I'm sure Bell will irritate me in all sorts of ways but he's a credible person to make the case that St. Louis is a cool place in the midst of a turnaround, whereas Cori Bush would have burned the whole metro to ashes if she thought it would benefit her political career.
I live in St. Louis. Been here 40+ years, moved here for a job after college. Grew up in the Chicago suburbs.
Can't disagree with a single word you wrote. You told it like it is. I will say, however, or perhaps emphasize further, that the de facto downtown IS Clayton, and has been for decades. It is not a new thing.
Every new sports stadium that gets built is sold partially on the notion that it will "revitalize downtown". Which at least contains the admission that downtown is lacking, that it needs revitalization. But doesn't contain the admission that, no, a sports stadium is not going to revitalize downtown.
I absolutely grieve all the beautiful buildings downtown and in the immediate surrounding areas that are abandoned and crumbling. It is so so so dang sad. The city used to be so alive and vibrant, but before I got here.
Thanks! Yeah Clayton has been the de facto downtown for a long time, but when I was growing up in the 90s it still had a lot of charming little shops and cool midcentury modern architecture that still sort of suggested that the real downtown was elsewhere. Today, with all the McMansions and glass towers, the last of the small town charm has been eliminated and it's pretty purely corporate. I'm with you about all the crumbling underappreciated architecture of historic St. Louis, perhaps especially all the boarded up blocks of grand old Edwardian mansions, it's tragic that the metro seems at war with its own history. I do think that if StL can manage to create a zone of security around the sports venues, convention center, tourist districts and the arch, that would stabilize revenue and help gradually expand that security zone outward to cover more of the city. You might be interested in this piece I wrote about the Clayton school board fracas earlier this year: https://ivyexile.substack.com/p/crooked-timber
Good for St. Louis. This thesis argues that in the Civil War era, St. Louis started falling behind Chicago due to the latter's ability to attract more Northern capital during the era of sectional conflict: https://www.nwmissouri.edu/library/theses/2015/AnstineTroy.pdf
Thanks, I'll look forward to reading! My sense is that it was the confluence of a lot of factors. St. Louis was perfectly situated for westward expansion in the era of riverboats and covered wagons, but once railroads and highways came along it was at a disadvantage to Chicago. I've heard it argued that Chicago ultimately benefited from its great fire allowing it to rethink its structure. Plus St. Louis City made the short-sighted decision to separate from the county in the 19th century, which has ultimately made the region less nimble in decision making. There are still people hoping to merge the city and county to be "Better Together" but the city is so dysfunctional there's no political appetite to make that happen. The number one factor was globalization, I'd say, as the focus of northern and later west coast capital moved from the U.S. interior to abroad.
Interesting, thanks!
as a Kansas Citian, I was often jealous of St Louis' seemingly cultural relativity to the East Coast. I liked it while attending Wash U. (in my case Wash-out U). Now, both cities face enormous cultural challenges!
I've got a number of friends who've moved to Kansas City and really love it. I've only been a few times, but it really is striking how much more KC is a true western city while StL is an eastern city located as west as one can get. The gateway indeed!
I love St Louis. The zoo is incredibly underrated as well. But two words: Pruitt-Igoe.
Ha, my Dad actually worked at Pruitt-Igoe in its apocalyptic final years. He was a social worker from a very hardscrabble background, so the residents tended not to give him much trouble even as a white guy because they could tell he really understood what it was to be poor. So he always had mixed feelings about the dramatic demolition sequence in Koyaanisqatsi of the complex being destroyed.
Koyaanisqatsi. Now that's a haute couture cultural reference if there ever was one! A tip of my hat to you, sir. 😀
Ted Gioia had a wonderful piece the other day about Philip Glass' blue-collar background. I never knew that he was a steelworker, taxi driver, self-taught plumber etc. for many years even as he was an up and coming composer. So definitely haute couture, but earthy!
I have lived in St. Louis all my life. I missed the days when I as a 5 year old could walk to school several blocks away, and alone. There were murders in St. Louis, but not at a daily rate. The most outstanding crimes that I recall was a vehicle accident a few blocks from Sportsman Park/Busch Stadium 1. Three nuns were killed. Our home was one block away and I recall neighbors running to the scene. I couldn't go. It was too horrific. Then years later there was a young black girl who had her eyes cut out because she would be able to identify robbers. I just wish we had crimes now that weren't daily and so violent. I am not saying that the crimes I witnessed were the only ones. My point is that you had to pay more attention or it had to be in your neighborhood to find them. Today, you just open up the computer, turn on your television, car radio, any local media and you will find a story about someone being murdered or robbed. My answer is to get rid of the guns. Why do we need guns? We don't have the need to kill for food. Why not come up with a way that gun lovers can go to a place and rent a gun to use only in that place. Perhaps they can have a shooting range. If there were enough gun-lovers that could just understand this. I know this is a dream.
I was really suppose to comment on the Cori Bush and Wesley Bell story. Just like the writer I did not vote for her. I knew she was the wrong candidate and I did not have to know much about her. I honestly tried to give her a chance, but she was just too loud and too selfish. I actually believe that she ran for office because she thought very highly of herself, but when she got into office she did not know how to do her job. So, what I believe she did was to just use her voice to put on the act of working for the people. Sure, she showed up at events claiming to do the work for certain groups. Did she do any work? I don't know. She backed groups, but I do that. I donate a little money, show up at gatherings, and volunteer. Anyone can do that. I just did not see evidence that she was the right person to lead us. Supporting residents in Congress with action, not yelling or just standing there. I believe Wesley Bell is the complete opposite of Bush. He works for a cause. He has proven time and time again that he does his job. A job. He has a history of working in his community and others before he became an attorney and on to AG for St. Louis County. When she lost in this violent election she proved herself. The language and the threatening tones were unnecessary. I believe that if I were a supporter before this happened, I would have dumped her. But, as I said earlier I did not see anything that would make me want to vote for her ever. Oh, I am black and I am a woman.
Thank you for your comment, Audry. I agree that Bush's ranting in her "concession speech" was really the ultimate icing on the cake of all the reasons why she had to go. Hopefully with Bell taking her place StL can move on from this tragic past decade and start coming together to get a handle on the crime problem.
I was there for work for a couple days this summer and was appalled at how apocalyptic the downtown seemed, four years on from COVID. And I'm from Baltimore, it's hard to shock me with municipal dysfunction...
One of my Uber drivers said, "yeah apparently we've been the slowest big city to bounce back from the pandemic." Here's hoping Wesley Bell lives us to your assessment of him in this higher role!
Due in part to the city-county split I mention in the post, the city has become more and more of a basketcase driving a vicious cycle of moderate middle-class voters fleeing to the county which in turn makes the city even more of a basketcase. So downtown has many of the sporting and performance venues and the Arch and some cool tourist destinations, but the metropolitan area's true commercial downtown is the affluent county seat, Clayton, where I grew up. Some state workers are getting pulled out of working downtown so the problem is probably going to get worse before it gets better. What I hope Bell is able to do is point the way towards prioritizing making the tourist areas safe, clean and secure so that the city is able to start attracting more conventions again for much cheaper than cities like Chicago and start generating more revenue to take on the rest of its pressing problems. I'm sure Bell will irritate me in all sorts of ways but he's a credible person to make the case that St. Louis is a cool place in the midst of a turnaround, whereas Cori Bush would have burned the whole metro to ashes if she thought it would benefit her political career.